Found: A Sage Hollins Novel

CHAPTER ELEVEN

When we finally reached the fifteenth floor, I was feeling weak in the knees from nerves. I could tell that I was rubbing off on Reid, as he seemed a little off kilter himself. 

"It's about eight o'clock. A little late for dinner. Do you want to try the restaurant or would you prefer room service?" he asked as he slid his sweater up over his head. 

Avoiding staring at the small bit of stomach he had exposed in doing so, I focused. 

"Are you going to tell me why you're hiding me in some..." I looked around and soaked in the room- clearly a penthouse suite with a kitchen, living area and bedroom, "grand hotel, instead of taking me home to meet your family?" 

He paused looking at the floor. "I can't take you home, not yet."

I grew impatient, "You've said that. Why?"

He pulled out a chair from a small circular table and sat down, offering one to me and then sighing when I refused. 

"For your safety. I worry what they will do to you if they find out who you are." his voice was small, worried. 

"My safety?" 

"Yes, your safety. Sage, you are to be our next Queen. That impedes on all of their plans. They're evil. Who knows what lengths they would take...I just can't risk you." he looked up at me from his hands, his eyes pleading.

"You think they would hurt me?" I felt fear settle in my core.

His face hardened, "I think they would kill you. Before anybody else found out that the Queen had been found. And then they would either kill me too, or they would banish me."

I felt my body sag toward the floor, the marble floors feeling less-than-great as my knees impacted. 

"I-I never would have thought..."

"I have to keep you safe. Until we can get married and stop them." he was at my side now, lifting me. 

He carried me to the sofa in the living area, tucking a pillow behind me back to support me. 

"Reid...I can't marry you. Not right now. I thought you understood that earlier..." my mind was racing.

I watched his resolve crumble and a tear drip down his cheek. He looked so defeated.

I could hardly stomach seeing him so broken, the very sight made my heart ache. I swiped away the tear with my thumb and lifted his chin to look at me. 

"Kiss me, Reid." I murmured. He shook his head slowly as his lower lip trembled. 

The floodgates had opened and I could see how much he had been holding in. His tears fell freely down his soft freckled face.

"Marriage is the only way I know how to save you, Sage...I can't lose you..." his cries were soft sobs. I felt my heart break. 

"Shhhh..." I leaned forward, capturing his mouth in a kiss. I felt the tears hit my lips, tasted the salt. 

He was resistant at first, not moving with me as I prodded at him. I scooted myself closer to him on the couch, wrapping my legs around his waist to pull myself into his lap. 

"Kiss me, Reid." I demanded now, pushing myself against him more firmly. Still, he resisted, his body shaking with grief. I felt it seep into my bones, followed by the anxiety of being rejected. I felt the warmth of my own eyes welling up and fought them back.

"Reid...please..." I wasn't sure how much more pain I could handle.

Finally, his arms wrapped around me and his lips crushed mine. He was anything but gentle. When my lips parted his tongue dove in, tangling with my own. Lightening shot through me, much like when we fist met. It was different though- this didn't hurt. It felt like an invitation...ice flowed through my veins, making me shiver. As his hands found the bottom of my sweater, pulling it up over my head, I knew it was time.

He pulled away to look at me- I was thankful I had worn my cutest lace black bra. It was my only cute bra. I felt my cheeks flush, shy, but when I saw how he was looking at me...I felt empowered. The sadness in his eyes had been replaced with hunger. I shivered with awareness. I tangled my hands in his beautiful blonde curls, and reveled at their softness. I tugged pulling him to my neck, where he resumed the kisses. I felt his teeth gently scrape the skin there, covering me in goosebumps.

The electricity flowing through my body had found the tips of my toes; I tilted my head back, inviting him to continue the onslaught on my senses. My fingers still navigating through his hair. 

He let out a low growl as he released the clasp of my bra, throwing it across the room. I shook with pleasure as his tongue found a n****e and pulled it into his mouth. It felt as if he were pulling my very life force from me and I was in no position to refuse him.

"Reid..." I whispered again.

His eyes shot up to me and I could swear they were glowing, the blue flecked with yellow. I gasped, taken aback. 

"I want you." he stated as if in answer. His voice was gravelly and it shot heat down to my core. 

I nodded briskly, "I'm yours." I didn't have time to think about the words coming out of my mouth before I said them, but once they were out I knew there had never been anything said in all of history that weren't more true. I was his, and he was mine.

The glow in his eyes intensified as he lifted me, still wrapped around him, resuming his oral attack on my breasts. My eyes fluttered closed as he carried me through the doorway to the bedroom, losing myself in the feeling of his tongue.

I felt him lower me down to the bed and move away from me. I looked up to see him standing over me watching me as my hands slid over the black silk sheets. 

"What are you doing?" I asked, my voice unrecognizable. 

He leaned over and unbuttoned my jeans, sliding them down my hips and discarding them onto the floor. I was left quivering in nothing but the black lace panties that matched the bra, only briefly before he tore them from me. I heard the fabric rip in protest, vaguely considered their $30 price point and decided I didn't care. His hands prodded my knees, separating my legs. I blushed, my shyness from before returning. 

"So you've never...?" he asked, his tone low, "Not even with...yourself?"

After a long silence I giggled, nervously, "N-no...not even with myself..."

He reached over and grabbed my hand from where it had settled under a silk cased pillow.

"Not even after the dreams started?" he nibbled on my finger tips, sucking them into his mouth. 

A strange noise escaped me, "I uh-considered it...but I don't know what I'm doing...mmm"

I felt the weight of his body as it leaned over me, and he landed a light kiss on my mouth.

"Let me show you." and then his hands were sliding down the front of me, his fingers slipping between my folds. 

"Ohh..." I gasped. 

He stroked the nub there in slow circles, only dipping further within to tease before resuming. My eyes fluttered closed as his lips caressed my breasts and his fingers played with my most sensitive area. I felt as moisture escaped me and my breath came out in pants. When I felt I was about to fall off of a cliff of no return, he lifted himself away again and I groaned in agony. 

He took the hand he had grasped and directed it to where his had been, and I looked up at him, shocked. 

"Do what I did..." he murmured. It wasn't a request. Nervously, I obliged while he watched. I could sense his hunger growing as the yellow in his eyes brightened. 

I explored my flower, watching him as he watched me. He watched as I became familiar with my own body, as my hips lifted off the bed in sync to the rhythm he had set for me. I could hear myself moaning, but I felt like I was in another world. My eyes had closed as I pushed myself to the brink, so I didn't get to see him stripping of his clothes- I regretted that. 

He was beside me then, fully nude. I rolled onto my side and took him in- the most beautiful man I'd ever seen. He had the body of a Greek god and he was definitely well endowed. My jaw dropped at the sight of him, and suddenly I understood his hunger. I moved reflexively to grab him, starting with his tip. I slid my hand down him slowly, listening to the hiss of air he took in at my touch. 

His eyes were blazing with passion, a passion I very well wanted to see every day of my life. My heart swelled. 

He tucked a stray hair behind my ear and whispered, "Come here, baby." and I felt him grab me by my hips and flip me up to straddle him. I could feel his erection pressed against me and I instinctively rocked my hips to rub against it. My eyelids fluttered at the sensation. 

"I want you to be in control..." he said huskily. 

I glanced down at him, and gave another rock of my hips, gliding my wetness against him from top to bottom. I wanted him to feel what he had done to me- reduced me to a puddle. I watched his eyes spark with excitement, fueling me. 

I pulled backwards and perched directly above him, steadying myself. 

"Reid?" I whispered, letting the tension build. I was scared but I knew what had to be said. 

He gritted his teeth, I could tell he was on the verge of losing all sense of control- I kind of liked that. 

"Yes, beautiful?" his eyes were closed, waiting. 

"Baby, look at me." I touched his cheek, willing him to open his stunning blue eyes. Just as I lowered myself down, feeling him part and fill me to my core, my head falling back with the sheer force of it, I heard a primitive sound escape me as I said for the first time, "Reid, I love you."

                                                                                    REID

The shock that reverberated through my body was so forceful I could not contain the roar that escaped me. I felt sparks travel to every inch of my body and I knew with one look at her that she had felt it too. She looked like a stunning Irish princess as she lowered herself down onto my hardness, her head falling back, her red hair hanging behind her. There was a glow- an actual glow surrounding her, and when she opened her eyes the emerald was flecked with gold. She wiggled her hips, adjusting to my size, her hands traveling up my chest to steady her. 

And she'd said she loved me. She really said she loved me. 

I licked my lips, dumbfounded at the sight of her naked body, at her on top of me, me inside of her- and she loved me. 

"I-" she pulled free of me briefly before sliding back down, taking the air directly from my lungs as I felt her wet heat tightening around me, squeezing me to oblivion, "-Sage, ohhhhh-" and again, "I love you too!" She looked at me and smiled, and I thought I might die. 

She listened to my breathing and I watched as she filled with her own s****l power. My queen! She found her rhythm and she moved, her hands sliding up her own torso, gripping her breasts as they made their way up through her hair pulling it into the air while she rode me. I was fascinated at the glow surrounding her- surrounding our joined bodies lit up the room. What was that?! With every thrust Sage's moans grew louder, the glow grew brighter, and I grew closer and closer to the delicious edge. 

My hands gripped her thighs as I thrust upward to meet her, our speed increasing. 

"Yes," she whispered, "Reid...oh!" her eyes winced closed and I felt the crash of our combined climax as I emptied inside of her. She collapsed onto my chest, our bodies shaking with the impact. 

I opened my eyes to watch the mysterious glow we had created slowly begin to fade, and listen to her catch her breath. I felt content as she shuddered around me, my erection still within her. 

"Did you mean it?" I asked, some time later. She had dozed off for a while, the heavy down comforter wrapped around her naked body. 

She stretched, sitting up and pulling the flat sheet with her, covering her breasts. 

"Did I mean what?" she looked flushed and satisfied.

"Do you love me?" I could hear it as I said it, I knew I sounded pitiful. 

The sheet grasped in her hands she leaned over and kissed me, her eyes shining with joy, "I do. With everything in me Reid...I've never been sure of anything as much as I'm sure I love you." 

Her smile was blinding as she continued, "You know...I questioned this whole thing. I knew there was something, there was attraction, there was this need I couldn't explain. I knew I wanted to please you and I wanted to be with you...but wasn't entirely convinced that any of this could be, well could be real. But in that moment," she rested her head against the headboard, "all I could feel was love. Stronger than anything I've ever felt."

My heart leapt, tears stinging my eyes, "I know exactly how you feel...you were...we were...that was the most amazing thing I'd ever experienced."